UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Alistair McHenry, Sofia Antipatis and Rebecca Dods, Tyr
tration or internal mechanisms (see 6.2 ADR Mecha- nisms ). Where parties have agreed to arbitration, either con - tractually or by virtue of membership to a sport, the courts primarily play a supervisory role, enforcing arbitration agreements under the Arbitration Act 1996, granting interim relief, or reviewing arbitral awards on narrow grounds. Court intervention tends to be exceptional rather than routine, and based on a high threshold. The courts may become competent earlier if internal mechanisms are inadequate, ineffective, or incapa - ble of delivering a timely remedy – particularly where urgent relief is required. A recent example of a case that, unusually, went to court is the Felipe Massa v Formula One and others case, in which a UK High Court judge ordered that the case should proceed to full trial in the judiciary rather than being mediated through sports arbitration. This may be the start of a trend of sports disputes gradually moving back to the courts, or at least playing out more frequently in plain sight rather than behind closed doors. 6.2 ADR Mechanisms Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) ADR is the primary mechanism for resolving sports disputes in the UK, reflecting the sector’s preference for specialist, confidential and efficient processes, alongside the courts’ traditional reluctance to inter - vene in sporting regulation. The term “ADR” can be misleading in UK practice, as litigators sometimes use “ADR” to refer only to without-prejudice discussions or mediation, rather than contested arbitration. For the purposes of this article, ADR is used in its broader sense, covering arbitration and mediation where the parties – usually through membership rules, participa - tion agreements or player contracts – have agreed to resolve disputes outside the courts. Arbitration Arbitration is the dominant form of ADR in UK sport. The Arbitration Act 1996, as amended by the Arbi - tration Act 2025, provides the statutory framework, ensuring that arbitral awards are final, binding and subject only to what amounts in practice to limited judicial oversight. Most sports require arbitration
as a condition of participation, embedding arbitra - tion clauses directly into governing body rulebooks. Sports such as football convene their own independ - ent specialist commissions or panels to hear disputes. Where a sport does not convene its own independent commission or panel, two specialist bodies convene panels to hear most other sports arbitrations: • Sport Resolutions (UK) – the principal domestic forum, administering disciplinary matters, selec - tion disputes, safeguarding cases and commercial issues across more than 50 sports. • CAS – used primarily where international rules apply, such as doping cases under the World Anti-Doping Code, or for international federation disputes. Sport Resolutions and the CAS both convene panels of arbitrators selected from their specialist lists. Some parties may instead refer disputes to general arbitration institutions, such as the London Court of International Arbitration, while others may pursue claims before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), particularly where disputes raise competition law issues rather than purely regulatory matters. Compe - tition law disputes represent a growth area in sport, illustrated in recent years by the Liv Golf and failed European Super League challenges to the established order, and the CAT is expected to hear an increasing number of league/competition disputes in the coming years. Governance of the Arbitration Process Arbitration in sport is shaped by the relevant sport’s rules. Governing bodies typically set procedural frameworks, including timelines, evidential standards, hearing formats, appeal routes and rules on interim relief. Tribunals must align their processes with both the Arbitration Act and the sport’s internal regulations. In practice, this involves far more flexibility, speed and sporting expertise than is offered by the courts. 6.3 Sanctions, Remedies and Challenges NGBs and competition organisers in the UK derive their disciplinary authority from the contractual rela - tionship created when athletes, clubs or officials agree
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